Tag Archives: new job

New Job New House

Posted on by
4

I started my new job today, and all went very well.  I am hoping this is the right job to see me through until retirement.

The day started with my getting up before Debbie, which is unusual since we have been getting up based on when she needed to go to work.

As I didn’t have to go in until 9am today instead of the normal 8:30am, I left the house about 8:15, to give myself plenty of time.  Drove out of our road, around the roundabout, got 100 yards down the road and then sat in bumper to bumper traffic for the next 2 miles.  It took me close to 30 minutes to do that part of the 8 mile journey, the rest at least was a bit easier, and I got there on time.

The department was in a bit of a flap, since they installed a new computer over the weekend, and as always happens in IT, things go wrong.  I learned years ago to expect the unexpected, and this morning there were a few problems, but when you have good people who have been there a few years and know the systems, it doesn’t take too much to fix them.

The boss took us all out to the pub for lunch, which was a nice change, since in the USA drinking during working hours is frowned upon.  But this place is a lot more relaxed, and everyone works together very well in the team.  I managed to make a simple change to one program today and put that into production, learned some introductory things about the software I will be working with, and hopefully by the end of the week I will be well on my way.

Sunday Debbie and I went to see the house that we are going to move into.  Debbie had seen it a few years ago, but couldn’t really remember it.  I hadn’t seen it at all, and it’s really unusual to be moving into a house that you haven’t seen before isn’t it.   Well the house was ok, not perfect, they never are, but it sits close to the top of a hill and gets a lot of sunshine both in the morning and the afternoon.     Well it looked ok on Sunday, so we went back home, packed up the cars, moved a lot of smaller stuff in, and began cleaning up.

Tonight after work we went over again with a car full of things, and will continue until the end of the week.   Saturday we are renting a truck to take the bigger stuff over (chairs, bed, wardrobe etc), so by the end of the weekend we should be moved in.

It’s going to be awkward for a few days until the internet is connected, but then we should be close to being straight and comfy.   It’s amazing how just not having an internet connection can make a big difference to your life.  We rely on the internet so much these days, well at least WE do!  Still, by the end of October I hope we are both cozy in our new home.   Life is gradually beginning to take shape.

Adapting To A New Routine

Posted on by
Reply

This is the start of my third week back at work, and I am gradually getting used to my new routine.

It was really hard going back to work after three months off, and the timing was not exactly good as there were things I still wanted to work on, but will now have to wait until I have the time.

True to form, this job is in an area of South Florida that I didn’t know, and actually I think that every single job that I have ever had has been in an area that I didn’t know before I started working there.  It’s a bit daunting at first, but it does give you a chance to explore new areas, and you never know what you will find.  Here for example there is a state park opposite where I work, so I can walk through there at lunchtime, look at the turtles in the marine center, and stand at the top of the beach, enjoying the cooling breeze while I talk to Debbie on the phone.

The sad thing is that I started back to work the week before my daughters finished school for the year.  It would have been nice to be able to take them out during the week, especially since they live with their Mom 25 miles from me, but now I am too busy at work to be able to do that.   Also this is a long drive for me, as the work location is 45 miles north of where I live.  The girls of course live 25 miles south of me, so if I was to try and see them in the evening during the week it would be a 70 mile drive in rush hour traffic and in my old car too, so it isn’t going to happen unfortunately.

Admittedly the drive is 45 miles each way, but so far apart from Friday evening when it was raining heavily, the traffic flow has been good, and it takes about 50 minutes.   That’s not so bad, considering that in the early 90′s I used to drive the 10 miles from home to work in London, and it would take at least an hour, and on several occasions 2 1/2 hours!   My last job was really close to home, so that took just over 10 minutes to get to and from the office, but most of us aren’t that lucky.  In the scheme of things 50 minutes isn’t that bad really.

My main worry though is my car.  I drive a 1996 Toyota Avalon, which has almost 142,000 miles behind it.  It’s in good condition, the engine runs great, there is no rust, it even still has the original muffler (exhaust), but the suspension needs looking at.

The Toyota dealership said that it needed new struts and quoted me $1,800 to replace them, which is rather expensive for a car that’s only worth about that if I was to sell it.  Especially after three months off work that’s a big financial OUCH!    Since the car was starting to vibrate a bit at speed, I took it into a tire place, where they put it up onto the ramp, and checked it out.  No mention of any problem with the suspension, but they said that one fo the rims was bent and the wheels needed to be rotated and aligned.  $22 later the car now runs smoothly.

However it’s not all good news, as they said that the tires were cracking and would need replacing.  There is still plenty of tread on them, I have probably only done 10,000 miles if that, so now with driving over 500 miles a week I have to watch out for that too.   I can’t justify paying expensive maintenance bills right now, and I also can’t afford a newer car.  Don’t you love being in these catch-22 situations?

So I just have to drive carefully, not do any sharp manoevering or braking, and keep my fingers crossed that my car will last as long as I need it to without having to spend a lot of money.

My First Day Back At Work

Posted on by
5

Today was my first day back at work after three months of being unemployed.

So naturally I was rather nervous, as most of us are when starting a new job, and as is typical for me, every new job I have takes me to somewhere I don’t know.  This one is no different, at Juno Beach, just north of West Palm Beach in South Florida.

It’s a 45 mile drive to work, and as I had to be there by 9:30am to meet my new boss, I thought I had better leave by 7:45am in case the traffic was heavy.   Well as it turns out, pretty much nobody went to work by the look of it, so the roads were fairly empty, and I got there by 8:50am!   I still had to wait until 9:45am for my boss to arrive, as he had to go to the other office first, so by the time introductions had been done in the department and I had got my security card etc, it was time for lunch.

My boss was busy, so I took a walk out, a chance to call Debbie, and also my Son, both in England.   The office is in a small strip mall, and across the road is a park.  The other side of the park is the Ocean Drive, and beyond that the beach!   There was a wooden walkway with steps leading down to the beach, so I stood there to make my phone calls and took advantage of the nice breeze that was blowing, it was great to not feel as sticky as I had just 1/4 mile inland.

The afternoon went well, with me getting into the systems and looking at a few programs, and then the drive home was fairly uneventful, getting home at 6:30pm.

I thought as I had been sticky, it would be a good idea to put the sauna on, and with luck someone had already used it, so it was still pretty warm.  Nice to only need 15 minutes to warm it up instead of almost an hour!   I had a good sauna, did 30 lengths in the pool and then back up my well trodden six flights of stairs to the condo, by which time it was close to 8pm.

I was ravenous by this time, having only had grapefruit juice and a banana before I left this morning, and just water and two cups of green tea all day.  I didn’t care to go out to eat, I preferred to explore a bit and make my phone calls instead.  Starving I was, but I didn’t want to overdo things as it was late, so I just made a cheese and tomato sandwich with some German Black Bread (Pepperidge Farm, really good) and peeled and sliced 3 carrots and had those with some ranch dressing.  Yumm…  Followed by a Raspberry Fat Free Yoghurt.  That hit the spot, and wasn’t too heavy either.   Now if I can do the same tomorrow, I ought to lose a couple of pounds for sure…

Watched a bit of tv, nothing much on though.  Caught up on my email, tried to print a couple of documents, but the ink was low on the printer, need to redo those at work tomorrow.  And now, last thing before bed, to catch up on Tagfoot.

So now I am winding down, and about ready for that trip to the Land Of Nod.   Catch you tomorrow… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…